My son’s #1 choice is Notre Dame and is planning EA for the school. My concern is that 80% of Notre Dame students are Catholic, which we are not and I’m worried if he will not be considered as highly as those other Catholic applicants because of religion (we don’t belong to any group). He goes to Catholic High School, loves the school, and is doing well. He is a non white student. He is very well rounded and I know that he will fit in Notre Dame very well.
Could anyone tell me if the fact that we are not catholic will affect his admission chance to the school?
Thanks for your reply, TomSrOfBoston. I’m not worried about his fit at all. I can imagine that my son will have no issues in Notre Dame catholic environment and will have a great time.
My questions is if Notre Dame admission people will consider my son’s application less than Catholic students. I’m learning about the school and it’s clearly mentioned that they are targeting Catholic students, which resulted in 80% catholic students in their student body. I’m guessing other 20% are athletes or someone with exceptional talent that the school absolutely wanted regardless of their religions.
If my son will have very little chance to be admitted to the school because of non-catholic reason, I’m thinking that maybe I should advise him to use EA/ED chance for his 2nd or 3rd choice school since they are also binding EA/ED schools like Notre Dame.
I would greatly appreciate if anyone familiar with Notre Dame admission system tell me if Notre Dame will consider my son (who isn’t catholic but going to catholic high school where he is doing great socially and academically) just as fairly as other catholic applicants.
Being a minority may be a minor hook. They would see that while not Catholic but graduating from a Catholic high school and wanting to continue in a similar environment as a plus.
Thanks again, TomSrOfBoston. So, let me clarify what you said, “Being a minority may be a minor hook.”. Most of colleges want diversity. My son is a non white - Are you saying that this factor is also negative in addition to non catholic for Notre Dame?
No, it is a positive. But you need to consider ND a reach, and he needs other match & safety schools he would like to attend if ND does not work out. One of the best things you can do as a parent is to discourage the “dream school” mentality and help him identify a list of a range of schools that could work for him.
My son has a list of colleges that include reach and plenty of match and safety schools and I’m not necessarily encouraging him to go for reach schools. He is very interested in ND because some of his high school alumni went. However, if ND doesn’t even consider non catholic students like my son that much, I think it’s not worth spending time for him to apply for the school, especially as EA since he has other schools in mind.
So, let me clarify. What you were saying, “you need to consider ND a reach” is because he is a non catholic, correct? I just want to clarify this because ND is a highly selective school so what you meant was ND is a reach because of that, or simply because that my son isn’t catholic.
Thought about contacting the school directly but this is a sensitive matter that I don’t think that I can get a honest answer from them…
ND certainly welcomes non-Catholics. It is a reach for many students because it is popular, not because one isn’t Catholic. If his stats are within range, then he has a as good chance as Catholics at admission regardless of religious orientation. If he truly feels ND is a fit, then go for it. To me, ND is a reach for many students purely because of admission numbers. I’ve seen many kids from our Catholic high school go there, and not all have been Catholic. All have been high-achieving students involved in impressive extra-curriculars.
Notre Dame is the most 'catholic ’ of the big Catholic universities (the others being Holy Cross, Boston College, and Georgetown.) The theology and philosophy req, the parietals, the importance of the Catholic faith, make it precious to Catholics but may be a turn off for non Catholics, who if admitted may choose a similar institution without the Catholic elements. The fact only 20% are Catholic doesn’t reflect an admission bias, but rather the choices non Catholics make once they’ve been admitted. If your child applies ED, hence demonstrating the strongest form of interest in the school, all things being equal, his being non catholic may actually play in his favor.
Oh no, I meant the opposite. Being a minority would be a plus. I said “minor” because some belive that minority status carries more weight than it does.
@LoveMyFamily33. The term reach was used because ND is incredibly difficult to get in. This year the average ACT was a 34, SAT middle 50% was 1420-1540 and 50% of students were in the top 1% of their class. 33% of the class of 2020 are non-white.
@LoveMyFamily33, my D is a non-Catholic attending ND. She had high stats so EA made sense for her. However, I think ND is unique in that they sort of discourage an EA app unless the student has very high stats. If you want to share your son’s stats, we could maybe help guide you a little more. Being a minority will be a plus for him for sure.
On the Common Data Set for Notre Dame, it lists: Religious affiliation/commitment as “considered” so it is not nearly as important to them as other factors of consideration.
Notre Dame is not a binding admission. It has restrictive Early Action, meaning that you cannot apply to ND early if you are applying to an Early Decision program. Notre Dame tends to attract a lot of “Catholic” students, but many are Catholic in name only. If your son has good stats, then apply REA. If he really wants ND then he should apply. He should not apply to any Early Decision program he doesn’t really want to go to, because he won’t have a choice. Better to apply regular to those, so that the decision is his, not the school’s.
Thanks all for your reply. Good to hear that my son seems to have an equal chance to ND admission without being catholic.
@ndtxmom82, ND is still his #1 choice and he is planning to go for EA to the school (meaning that he won’t do ED to other school). I truly believe the school will be a great fit for him. He is a super well rounded individual and is open to anything/anyone, which this character of his is making him do very well at his catholic high school although he isn’t one.
@suzy100, below is his stats. I know it’s probably not great for ND… Advise please, if it makes sense to you for my son to still go for EA with the states?
Unweighted GPA: 3.9 (Weighted: 4.45)
ACT: 32 (will retake but isn’t a great test taker…)
Rank: 1st decile (School doesn’t compute student rank.)
EC:
Sports: 4 years in HS (JV:2yrs+V:2yrs) plus 4~years Travel Club Team (captain))
Music: State Level (will submit art supplement)
School Tutoring: Don’t know total hours but has been doing every week since freshman
School Major club: 4 years (President in Junior and Senior)
Newspaper: Managing editor (Junior and Senior)
Volunteer: Don’t know total hours but more than the school required the students to do. Also, participated immersion trips to help local people in need (in the summers before Junior and Senior years)
Awards:
National Honor Society (since Sophomore)
General and Academic Excellence award at his HS (in Soph and Junior)
(Note: More EC’s but I only listed major ones. One concern is his grade went down in Junior year…I know colleges like to see an upward trend.)
He sounds like a great fit for ND. If he hasn’t tried the SAT, ask him to try it once - one of my kids really did much better on it than the ACT - you might suggest he ask his admissions rep whether he should go early or regular. The reps are very helpful. Tell him to work hard on the essays - especially the version of Why ND - make it personal, not just the generic - “I love the tradition” stuff - my youngest wrote about how when he saw the student body sing the alma mater with the football team after a cold and miserable loss he realized what a tight-knit community they were - that kind of thing is what they are looking for.
Just dropped my incoming freshman D off–non Catholic. Pretty sure religion was not a factor. And throughout process never got impression non-Catholic was an issue for admission or acceptance once on campus. Good Luck!
Thanks for your great advice, @ndtxmom82. He’s done with drafting common app essay and is going to start to draft one for Why ND soon. He is a good writer with a kind heart. Hopefully he will come up with a great one!